Ringer help

[MarkJ]

Howdy to all, new guy here! I am interested in anything old. Not just phones. I kinda like the older technology. I have 3 rotaries. A beige Western Electric 500, a recently-connected Northern Electric, and a 1963 Dutch desktop. I am unsure about the Dutch model, but I got help from someone about 3 years ago how to connect the wires to make the ringer functional. It has a white PTT button on topo under the cradle. It rings a little slower than the Bell, and I like the tone. It is fully usable, but has slightly decreased speaker volume. My question is this:

When the phones ring, all is well. But when dialing I can hear the bell in the dutch phone bell ticking out the rotary clicks coming from which ever phone I use. It also ticks when another phone is picked up. Its more of an annoyance than anything.

Can any of you guru's tell me an easy mod I can make to eliminate the ticking? Maybe a diode or resistor ? What can pass an incoming impulse like a ring signal, but block the slower series of impulses of a rotary dial out? 

As long as the fix is reversible I'm good with it. Thanks in advance!

[Dennis Markham]

Hi Mark, Welcome to the forum.

I am certainly no expert when it comes to the technical side, especially electronics (diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc......)  But I will take a stab and offer a suggestion or two. 

What you describe sounds like what some refer to as "Bell Tap".  I have on occasion had a phone or two that has bell tap.  The clapper, or striker is just close enough to the gong(s) that current through the line even when dialing causes the clapper to move just enough to strike the gong.  I'm sure there is a much more technical remedy but it has been suggested that by reversing the polarity of the phone line wires the problem will be corrected.  Try switching the red and green leads on this phone where the line cord attaches to the phone.  Secondly I have also had luck with moving the gongs away from the clapper just enough to keep the clapper from striking the gongs during dialing.

Do I under stand correctly what is happening?  When dialing that phone, or any of the other phones on the line it causes the striker/clapper to lightly strike the gong on the foreign phone...enough to make a "tinkling" sound?

These are just two simple suggestions.  There are others on the forum that have a better understanding of the electrical aspect of the phones that I'm sure will report in with their suggestions.

Dennis

[MarkJ]

Yes, you understand correctly. I will try the reverse polarity thing. I'll let you know....

[MarkJ]

Well, dennis, thanks for the help but no go. To get the ringer to work at all there is a jumper wire that needs to go from the green to the ringer. I switched the red and the green/jumper. No bell at all. I switched the red and the green and left the jumper to the same terminal it was before, and the bell rang but still tinkled. The bells cannot be moved as they are screwed to posts directly on the base of the phone. Hmmmm....any other takers?

[Dennis Markham]

Well Mark, I knew it was a long-shot.  I have no experience with phones other than U.S. made phones but I have to believe they are similar.  Here is a link to a blog about British Phones.  The writer of this blog has some links.  Perhaps someone can help you there.  I don't know if collectors of British phones would include a Dutch phone.  But it's worth checking.

http://antiquephones.blogspot.com/

Dennis

[bingster]

I have bell tap with a Danish KTAS D-08, and I've never figured out how to stop it.  Granted, I haven't looked into it all that thoroughly, but they wires are beautifully dressed and cabled, so it makes tracing dificult. 

[benhutcherson]

I believe I've read somewhere along the way that bell tap is considered normal and expected in Europe.

Thus, I would doubt that you'll ever be able to do anything to get rid of it.